More Answers

J.E.
answers from San Francisco
on
December 12, 2009

Do you know any of the high school cheerleaders? They could come and teach the girls cheers, do face paint and nail polish, help serve etc. 2-3 girls could help you entertain your daughter and her friends w/o costing a fortune. You can buy pompoms at the party store and you may even want to get sweatshirts and fabric paint so they can decorate their own shirts.

My daughter was about 13 and she had friends over, she put M & M's in a bowl of whipped cream and the kids had to try to dig out as many as they could by putting their faces in the bowl and getting them out with their tongue. New bowl of whip cream for each kid, but it was fun. I even did it. they loved it.

Hi C.,
Movies, Make-up, Nails and Games! Don't forget the munchies and drinks! What you need depends on if it is a sleep-over or just for the evening. This age loves to dance so ask them to bring their favorite CDs - but you be the one who chooses the songs. That way you have control of what they listen too (some songs are too wild for other parents, as well as your daughter is not the "meanie" for dissing their songs). Most of all have a super great time!
All the best for this special time (my only daughter is 15 now!)
Patti b

For both of my daughter,when they were around that age, we had a mystery party. You can find them online. You pick the type of mystery you would like and order the kit online. It is emailed to you. The kit comes with step by step instructions on how to plan and organize the party. It makes it very easy. For my younger daughter we did the Case of the Missing ring. The party came in various size based on the number of kids you invite. Each kid gets a character and so do the adults involved. You send out invations(provided)to each kid with their character's information so that they can come dressed the part. Its a ton of fun and kids of all ages really get into their parts. http://www.mysterypartygames.com/themes/ring/Mystery-Part..., this is only one of many website that offer these. The only hard part is you have to print alot of stuff. So be prepared with a printer cartridges. You can make this as detailed as you want. It has different plans based on whether or not they are sleeping over. It easier and more fun that I orginally thought the first time I tried it.

Hello C., As the mother of 5 I have given many birthday parties and the ones at home seem the greatest for the kids, with the exception of the child born just minuets after Christmas Day( I was in labor and didn't tell anyone). We took him and his friends to the Oakland Zoo at night for the Christmas decorations, and also we took his buddies forthe "animals after dark" activity a few yers ago. I'll shre a few of the other things we have done.
1. I had a Mary Kay dealer come and do a make up party.
2. I took the girls to the beauty school and got them facials and pedicure ( the price was very reasonable)
3. I bought the latest movie and they had all the popcorn, candy,soda, and pizza to go withit.
4. I have done a fancy dinner with china and silverware and served 4 courses. This turned into a great thing as some of the girls had never done this and when they went on dates later knew how to use the fork and spoons properly.
5. We got lots of games and the kids played games all night. They had a blast even though they didn't think they would. They just got to be kids and have fun.
6. The one that was the hardest to do was "making soup" when each girl got to make 2 kinds of soup and take some home. and when we got Choclate and dipped cookies and strawberries- it took alot of patience to let them make the mess! But the girls still talk about it.
-- one party my daughter went to the mother(got permission from the invited girls parents), had some one that does bra fittings come and talk to the girls about the different types there are and which ones to avoid and why, most importantly how to be sure of a proper fit.. that was a help even for me!!
7. I once had a sewing party at my daughter's request and we mended clothes and hemmed pants and did fabric painting on t shirts (cheap with several in a package) for the girls to wear with pajama pants.
Take lots of funny pictures and give them to the girls& parents so they have a memory to keep.
If this is not a December party-- a BBQ is always fun and reasonable to do and the girls entertain themselves with music. Have fun and I wish you well. Nana Glenda

Buy some pretty nail polish so they can do eachothers toenails. Buy the nail stickers too. and clear to put over the top. Give them free reign of the camera. Have them do a scavenger hunt and give them prizes if they can find listed items around the house by the time the timer is up. do games like you do at baby showers (the blind fold with having to put the cotton balls in the bowl, or put things on a tray and giv ethem 1 minute to memorize it and then take it away and have them list it).Dance dance revolution is fun if you have it. You could decorate your garage door with big signs and also your car/truck with lots of balloons and streamers and paint pens saying "Today is XXXX's bday!" and then go pick up all the birthday sleepover girls. Have the bday girl in front and make sure you honk your horn a little and call attention to her when driving downtown. Or you could secretly decorate her bedroom doorway while she is sleeping, with all kinds of streamers so she has to walk through it when she wakes up in the morning.
Set up a tent in the front room and let the girls 'campout'. They can do marshmallows in the fireplace and tell ghost stories in the tent by flashlight.(you can probably find ghost story books at the library.)
You can make it a bakoff, start with a premade chocolate chip cookie dough, but omit the chips. Have all kinds of "things" that the kids can add to make the cookie better, have a zeroxed cookie recipie with a few lines where the kids can fill in what they put in their batch. Have them vote who made the best cookies. take a picture with the best cookie baker, in a chef hat of course, Give her a chef medallion award around her neck. and a cookbook for a prize. Or you can have a cookie party where the girls can cook a buch of different easy recipies and each one gets to take home her own cookbook, with the zeroxed recipies she made in her book, and also a box of cookies to give to her mom for xmas. Have some cookie boxes ready (one for each girl.)
How about making t shirts. There is tye dye which is popular right now. If you can get the girls to take a photo together there is iron on transfers you can do with pictures to t shirts. then they can decorate around it with t shirt paint. (make sure you put a cardboard sleeve unside the shirt). Look online for more ideas for teenbirthdays and game ideas.

You could do a craft together- beading or painting or friendship bracelets. Look in the craft-kit section at Walmart or Michael's for ideas. When I was twelve, we had a slumber party with a new-release movie and a build your own ice cream sundae bar: ice cream (of course), brownie bits, sauces, nuts, sprinkles, and whipped cream. If you have Guitar Hero or a Wii, you could incorporate the game into a party, too.

You could purchase small, inexpensive plaster figurines at Michael's and have them paint them, watch a fun PG movie and/or have them play dress up complete with lip gloss, feather boas, long necklaces, costume jewelry etc then take pictures. (Note: some parents do not let their children wear gloss so I would skip entire make up and they could possibly wipe off the gloss before being sent home?). Hope that helps. Have fun!

I was a single mom too... We had Dogs, Cats and ONE pet rat named BEN. I had a boy...they are different....Some girls/kids don't warm up to pets as well as others, so if you have a sleep over (girls LOVE sleep overs), make sure all the guests are comfortable with your many critters.

Music, movies, food (pizza and/or cold cuts (they can make their own sandwiches)....chip and dip (juice/soda/water) and of course the birthday cake or cup cakes.

I would set a few rules like they must go to bed by 12 midnight (that should be a real treat for a 12 year old).

For the AM next day, some muffins, milk and juice should be plenty and the parents should pick up their girl by 10 am or earlier.